Collapsible leg structure for attachment to a table top and the like



Jan. 29, 1957 w. J. KRANZ 2,779,648

COLLAPSIBLE use STRUCTURE FOR ATTACHMEN'" TO A TABLE TOP AND THE LIKEFiled April 2. 1954 ATTORNEY United States Patent COLLAPSIBLE LEGSTRUCTURE FOR ATTACH- MENT TO A TABLE TOP AND THE LIKE William J. Kranz,Cuba, N. Y., assignor to Viko Furniture Corporation, Eldred, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application April 2, 1954, Serial No.420,708

3 Claims. (Cl. 311-) This invention relates to the structure andassembly of l a leg unit with a table top, chair seat, or similararticle of furniture.

More particularly, the invention is directed to a leg unit that may beassembled to form the support of an article of furniture at the place ofdisplay or use rather than at the place of manufacture.

Articles of furniture, such as chairs, tables, etc., have not onlybecome increasingly costly to manufacture, but to this cost has beenadded the considerably increased expense involved in packaging andshipping such articles. Manufacturing costs generally cannot be lowered,even though the articles may be produced by high production methods, butit has been found possible to reduce the expense and time involved inpackaging, as well as the cost of shipping, by producing articles inseparate units or parts that lend themselves to a compact arrangementfor transit and may be assembled by the purchaser at the point ofdestination. Articles produced in separate units or parts have a furtheradvantage beyond that of reducing the cost of packaging and shipping.This ad vantage derives from the fact that retail stores or similarmerchandise outlets need only assemble and display one of any givenarticle, the remaining articles being left in their compact, packagedstate, In this manner, stores and other outlets can maintain a greaterstock of articles in the same or less storage space than was heretoforere quired.

It is, of course, known that so-called knocked-down" articles offurniture of the general class to which the present invention relates,have long been marketed and that many such articles, when assembled,adequately serve their intended purpose. Such articles as chests, desks,and bookcases would fall in this class, as their various parts or unitscan be securely joined by screws, bolts, etc, and invariably haveconsiderable areas for interfitting of the parts. However, it is alsoknown that certain articles of furniture, such as chairs and tables, arenot as susceptible to unital construction without sacrificing a measureof stability of the leg structure, either initially or after a period ofuse. No difficulty has been encountered in designing a leg and topstructure that could be opened up, unfolded, or swung into assembledposition,

but when a manufacturer attempts to produce such a structure withoutloss of stability and rigidity in the legs thereof, additional braces orsupports must be provided. Thus, any advantage of collapsing or foldingthe article is pan tially lost, since the extra supports or braces makeit impossible to pack into a small crate or carton.

It is a purpose and object of the present invention to provide a legstructure for tables, chairs, and the like that includes collapsibleparts which enable compact pacl aging for shipment.

it is another object and advantage of the invention to provide legstructure that may be easily applied and readily secured to a chairseat, table top, or the like without the aid of special tools orinstructions.

A further object of the invention lies in the provision 2,779,648Fat-outed Jan. 29, 1957 of leg structure of so-called knocked-downdesign that, when assembled with a seat or table top, is extremely rigidand will remain so throughout its period of use.

Another and further object of the invention lies in the provision of legstructure that, by reason of its duplication of parts, is relativelyinexpensive to produce and is also adaptable, without any change orappreciable change, as a support for a variety of articles of furniture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be more fullyunderstood from a consideration of the following specification, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing; in which Fig. l is afragmentary side elevational view of a table top fitted with the legstructure embodying one form of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary bottom plan view of the table,showing the legs and anchor plate in position of use, with two of theopposite legs in collapsed, packaged position in dotted lines; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevational view (partly in section), showingthe complete securing means for one pair of the legs, being takensubstantially as suggested by the line 3--3 of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the reference numeral it isemployed to generally designate a table of which the present inventionconstitutes a part. Insofar as the invention is concerned, the table topll may be the seat of a chair or settee, the top of a taboret,bookstand, or, in fact, any other article that requires a receiving areato be located at some height above the floor. For convenience, the topill may be considered to be circular. Projecting downwardly from theexact center of the bottom face 12 thereof is a screw 13. This screw isembedded and anchored in the table top. The present disclosurecontemplates the provision of four legs as a support for the top 11 and,for this reason, four additional screws M. are embedded in the top 11and project downwardly from the under face thereof.

An anchor plate 16 is provided and, for convenience, may be of the shapeshown in the drawing. Insofar as the present invention is concerned, theplate could be circular or any other shape so long as it did notinterfere with movement of certain of the legs hereinafter described.Four tubular legs are provided as a support for the top 11. Diagonallyopposite pairs of these legs are of identical construction, one pairbeing fixed and the other movable with respect to the plate 16.Reference is now had to the pair of fixed legs 17. Each of these legsconsists of an upright portion 18 of desired length that continuesthrough a suitably curved portion 19 into a horizontal supporting part21. Near its end the part 21 is curved in a. horizontal direction,substantially to the extent shown, for the purpose of increasing theextent of contact with the top. Beyond this horizontal curve the part 21terminates in a securing end 22. This end is formed by flattening thetop and bottom of the tube to change the cross sectional contour fromround to substantially fiat form. it will be noted that the plane of theflattened part 22 is close to, but not in the plane of the top surfaceof the part 21. The reason for this will be understood from furtherconsideration of the structure and its assembly. The end 22 of each leg18 is permanently and rigidly secured to opposite ends 23 of the plate16 in any suitable manner, as by the rivets 24 that are shown.

A pair of swingable legs 26 are provided. These legs are identical and,with the exception of the direction of the horizontal bend in thesupporting parts 27, are identical with the other legs 17 previouslydescribed. Therefore, they terminate in flattened ends 23 similar to theends 22. The ends 28 of these legs are secured to opposite sides 29 ofthe plate 16 by single rivets 31. This,

of course, enables swinging the legs 26v about said rivets with respectnot only to the plate 16, but the legs 17 as well. Ayertical opening ismade in each of the four legsapp'roximately' midway between the bend 19and the innermdsrends 22 and 23.

The table top 11, including" the depending screws 13 and 1.4,constitutes one unit of the entire article. The

leg unit, consisting of'le'gs i7 and26' and mounting'plate' 16,represents the balance of the entire article. By rea-' son of thepivotal connection of legs 26 with the plate 16, it is possible to swingthese legs into a position such that the feet 32 abut the correspondingfeet of the fixed legs. With the legs in this relative position, theentire leg unit is greatly compacted. The top 11, being flat, may beplaced against the folded leg unit, or, if of small enough'diarneter,between these legs. The entire structure then may readily be placed in acomparatively small carton for shipping. It will be clear that by havinga leg unit separate from a table top it is possible to gre tly decreasethe bulk of the container and the cost thereof as against attempting topackage the table in assembled form, as it is shown in Fig. 1.

When it is desired to assemble the leg unit with the top 11, the foldedlegs 26 are swung about their pivots 31, from dotted to full lineposition, as viewed in Fig. 2. The ends 28 of the swingable legs are nowin the plane of the corresponding ends of the fixed legs 17 and, viewingthe horizontally curved portions of one fixed and one swingable leg,- itwill be noted that they are substantially U-shaped. The table top 11 isplaced upside down on a suitable surface and the leg unit is invertedand placed thereon, screw 13 projecting through a centered opening inthe plate 16, and screws 14 projecting through the openings in thehorizontal parts 21 and 27 of the legs. A nut 32 is applied to screw 13and, when turned down, draws the plate in toward the under face of thetop 11 and, by so doing, causes the heads of rivets 24 and 31 to pressinto the under face of the table top. At this point in the assembly,attention is directed to the fact that, due to the plane of theflattened ends of the legs with respect to the tops of the parts ofwhich the legs are formed, there is a' tendency for the horizontal parts21 to bend slightly away from the adjacent portion of the top. Byapplying additional nuts 33 to screws 14, the supporting parts of thelegs 21. are drawn into abutment with the underside of the table topand, by reason of the slight springing of each leg, the nuts 32 arelocked against loosening as well as though lock washers had beenapplied.

With the parts thus assembled, it will be noted that each leg, by reasonof the securement provided by screws 14,- in conjunction with the screw13 for securing plate 16, is prevented from twisting. Furthermore, byhorizontally bowing the parts 21 or 27 of each leg, greater support isprovided for the table top 11 and any weighty item that may be placedthereon. Since there can be no relative. swinging or twisting of thelegs with respect to each other or to the table top, it is evi"ent thatthe present invention provides not only an extremely sturdy andrigidsructure but one that is fully collapsible for compact shipping asWell; The leg unit is inexpensive to manufacture since eacli pair oflegs is identical and the only difference between the pairs is noted inthe opposed bowing of the table top supporting parts.

Although applicant has shown and described only one all) 4 applicationof. use of a collapsible leg structure, it will be apparent that suchstructure may be applied to other articles of furniture and that thedesign of the legs, for artistic purposes, may also be altered withoutin any way departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setout in the annexed claims.

Having thus set forth my invention, what I claim as new and for which Idesire protection by Letters Patent 1. Collapsible'leg structureattachable to a table top and the like comprisinga plate, a set of fourtubular legs, the upper parts of said legs extending substantiallyhorizontally and adapted toprovide a considerable area of contactsupport for said top, flattened ends on said parts, the plane ofsaidends' being adjacent the top surfaces of said horizontal parts, saidends overlapping said plate, diagonally opposite leg ends being rigidlyjoined to said plate, the other of said endsbeing pivotally joined tosaid plate, means securing said plate in abutment with the under face ofsaid top, and further means remote from said plate for drawing saidparts into abutment with said top.

2. Collapsible leg structure attachable to a table top and the likecomprising a plate, a set of four tubular legs, the upper parts of said'legs extending substantially at right angles to the lower parts thereofand adapted to provide a considerable area of contact support for saidtop, flattened ends on said parts, the plane of said ends being adjacentthe top surfaces of said horizontal parts, said ends overlapping saidplate, and being in abutment with said top when said structure isassembled therewith, diagonally opposite leg ends being rigidly securedto said plate, the other ends being pivotally joined to said plate, thelast mentioned ends enabling swinging the legs thereof into a collapsedposition.

3. Collapsible leg structure attachable to a table top and the likewherein is provided a centered depending screw, said structurecomprising a plate having a centered aperture for receiving said screw,a set of four legs, the upper parts of said legs extending substantiallyhorizontally and adapted to provide a considerable area of contactsupport for said top, said upper parts terminating in ends that overlapsaid plate, two of said legs being rigidly secured to said plate, theremaining two legs being pivotally joined to said plate and movable intoand out of proximity with the first two legs whereby to selectivelycollapse said structure or expand it into position for use, and meansfor individually securing said horizontal parts to said top underpressure when the pivotal legs are expanded and said plate is secured tosaid top by a nut engaged with said screw.

References ited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

